Veterans Affairs Benefits

International Military Justice Lawyers Serving Veterans

VA Benefits At Separation: Service Administered

	Honorable	General	OTH	Bad Conduct	Dishonorable
Payment for Accrued Leave	E	E	NE	NE	NE
Death Gratuity	E	E	E	E	NE
Wearing of Military Uniform	E	E	NE	NE	NE
Burial in National Cemeteries	E	E	TBD	TBD	NE
Burial in Post Cemeteries	E	E	NE	NE	NE
Board for Correction of Military Records	E	E	E	E	E
Discharge Review Board	E	E	E	NE	NE
Transporta-tion Home	E	E	E	E	E
Transporta-tion of Dependents and Household	E	E	TBD	TBD	TBD

Transitional Benefits and Services

	Honorable	General	OTH	Bad Conduct	Dishonorable
Pre-Separation Counseling	E	E	E	E	E
Employment Assistance	E	E	E	E	E
Health Benefits	E	E	E	NE	NE
Commissary/Exchange	E	E	NE	NE	NE
Military Family Housing	E	E	NE	NE	NE
Overseas Relocation	E	E	NE	NE	NE
Excess Leave/ Permissive TDY	E	E	NE	NE	NE
Preference for USAR/ARNG	E	E	NE	NE	NE
Montgomery GI Bill	E	NE	NE	NE	NE

Department of Veterans Affairs

	Honorable	General	OTH	Bad Conduct	Dishonorable
Dependency and Indemnity Compensa-tion	E	E	E	E	NE
Pension for Non-Service Connected Disability or Death	E	E	TBD	TBD	NE
Medal of Honor Pension	E	E	TBD	TBD	NE
Insurance	E	E	TBD	TBD	TBD
Vocational Rehabilitation	E	E	TBD	TBD	NE
Educational Assistance	E	NE	NE	NE	NE
Survivors & Dependants Educational Assistance	E	E	E	E	NE
Home and Other Loans	E	E	TBD	TBD	NE
Hospitaliza-tion & Domiciliary Care	E	E	TBD	TBD	NE
Medical and Dental Services	E	E	TBD	TBD	NE
Prosthetic Appliances	E	E	TBD	TBD	NE
Guide Dogs and Equipment for Blindness	E	E	TBD	TBD	NE
Special Housing	E	E	TBD	TBD	NE
Automobiles (for Disabled Veterans)	E	E	TBD	TBD	NE
Funeral and Burial Expenses	E	E	TBD	TBD	NE
Burial Flag	E	E	TBD	TBD	NE
Burial in National Cemeteries	E	E	TBD	TBD	NE
Headstone Marker	E	E	TBD	TBD	NE

Other Federal Agencies

	Honorable	General	OTH	Bad Conduct	Dishonorable
Preference for Farm Loans (Dept. of Agriculture)	E	E	E	E	NE
Preference for Farm & Other Rural Housing Loans (Dept. of Agriculture)	E	E	E	E	NE
Civil Service Management (Office of Personnel Management)	E	E	NE	NE	NE
Civil Service Retirement Credit	E	NE	NE	NE	NE
Job Counseling & Employment Placement (Dept. of Labor)	E	E	E	E	NE
Unemploy-ment Compensa-tion for Ex-Service-members	E	E	NE	NE	NE
Naturaliza-tion Benefits (Dept. of Immigration)	E	E	NE	NE	NE
Old Age Survivors & Disability Insurance (SS Administra-tion)	E	E	E	E	E

Note that with a General discharge, you keep most of the pay entitlements or VA benefits that you might have accrued thus far. For example, you can still cash in your accrued leave. However, you do lose GI Bill contributions and any civil service retirement credit (that is, credit toward federal civil service retirement for your active duty military time) to which you would otherwise be entitiled.

The biggest problem with a General discharge is that it is the second best type of discharge and not the best. As such, a future employer may inquire as to why you got the second best, instead of the best. Because it is under honorable conditions and is still considered good paper, however, most employers probably will not press the issue. If you feel you have lost benefits you are entitled to, call Military Justice International today to speak with an aggressive attorney about the options pertaining to your issue.